Lid hinge and counterbalance



Feb. 6, 1962 J. P. BOGATER LID HINGE AND COUNTERBALANCE Original FiledJune 19, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor J01? gya/e? Attorney Feb. 6,1962 J. P. BOGATER LID HINGE AND COUNTERBALANCE Original Filed June 19,1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Attorney tates This invention relates to a hingeand counterbalance device, and more particularly to a deck lid hinge andcounterbalance for an automobile. This application is a division of mycopending application, Serial No. 592,- 459, which was filed on June 19,1956 and which issued on January 26, 1960, as Patent No. 2,922,184.

One feature of the invention is that it provides an improved hinge andcounterbalance; another feature of the invention is that it provides anovel hinge and counterbalance particularly adapted for use with anautomobile deck lid; still another feature of the invention is that thedeck lid is urged toward open position by a toggle linkage connected toa tension spring which biases the toggle linkage toward extendedposition so that the moment leverage increases as the deck lid opens toprovide a yieldable hold-open when the deck lid is in its open position;and yet a further feature of the invention is that the tension springmay be mounted outside the walls of the hinge box with the result thatthe hinge box can be made relatively small.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description and from the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary section through a portion of the rear quarterand deck lid of an automobile showing the invention, the deck lid beingclosed and part of the hinge box being broken away to show underlyingstruc ture;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a View similar to FIG. 1 but with the deck lid open.

Automobile deck lids conventionally are provided with a counterbalancedevice to assist in opening the rather heavy lid and generally thesecounterbalance devices are incorporated into the hinge for the deck lidrather than being formed as structures separate and disconnected fromthe hinge. This invention provides improved counterbalance devices ofthis type for an automobile deck lid utilizing a toggle linkageoperative directly upon the swinging hinge strap and having a helicaltension spring connected to the toggle linkage. The spring is loaded asthe deck lid is closed, but as the deck lid is closed, the togglelinkage is folded, thus rendering the spring force least efiective toiift the lid even though the spring is most fully compressed when thelid is closed. Because of the toggle linkage arrangement, the momentleverage increases and the spring is most effective to support the lidwhen the lid is open so that the spring and toggle linkage arrangementprovide a holdopen for yieldably maintaining the lid in its openposition.

Referring to the drawings, is the rear quarter shelf of an automobilewhich extends across the back of the automobile body adjacent the loweredge of the rear window 12. A sealing weather strip 14 is secured to thewindow and to the shelf ltl and an ornamental trim strip 16 is mountedon this weather strip and extends around the periphery of the window.Inside the automobile body partition 13 projects forwardly anddownwardly from its point of attachment with the Weather strip 14 andthe shelf 1% to define the top and forward wall of the rear deckcompartment and to separate the i atet rear deck compartment from thepassenger compartment. Beneath the shelf 10 and the partition 18 andsecured thereto by bolts or any other conventional means is a generallyU-shaped hinge box 20 between the walls 20a and 20b of which a gooseneckhinge strap 22 is pivotally mounted on a pin 24 so that the strapcomprises one hinge member and the hinge box comprises the other hingemember. It will be understood that there is one of these hingearrangements at each side of the rear deck compartment although only oneis shown in the drawings since the two are identical in construction.The reference character 26 designates the outer panel of the deck lid,said lid having an inner panel 28 which is secured by bolts 30 to thehinge strap 22. The shelf 10 is formed with a peripheral trough in whicha sealing weather strip 32 seals against the inner panel 23 of the decklid to keep dirt and moisture out of the rear compartment.

A first toggle link is pivoted at 82 on the hinge strap 22. As shown inFIG. 1, this toggle link has an arm forming a stop abutment 84. A secondtoggle link 36 is articulated at 88 to the long arm of the toggle link80 and is pivoted by a pin 90 on the wall of the hinge box, the linkbeing rigidly mounted on pivot pin 90. This toggle link has acomplementary stop abutment portion 92 adapted to abut the stop portion84 of the link 80, as shown in FIG. 3, to limit opening movement of thedeck lid. The pin 90 projects through the wall of the hinge box andoutside the hinge box wall a bracket 94 is rigidly mounted on the pin sothat the bracket 94 and the toggle link 86 are locked together. Bracket94 has a turned flange 96 which anchors one end of a helical tensionspring 98. The other end of the spring is anchored in a bracket which iswelded to the wall of the hinge box. Since the spring acts directly onthe toggle linkage, there is no force multiplication.

When the deck lid is closed, the toggle linkage is folded as shown inFIG. 1. The angular relationship between the bracket 94 and the togglelink 86 is such that in this closed position the mechanical advantage isrelatively slight despite the fact that the spring is fully loaded. Whenthe deck lid swings from the closed position of FIG. 1 toward the openposition of FIG. 3, the toggle linkage and bracket 94 swing in a mannerto increase the mechanical advantage so that the counterbalance force ofthe spring exerted on the deck lid increases and is suflicient toovercome the gravity of the deck lid when the lid is fully open as inFIG. 3. As the lid swings closed, the spring is reloaded in preparationfor the next cycle. The provision of the bracket 94 which is separatefrom but locked with the toggle link 86 allows the spring 98 to bemounted outside the hinge box waHs, thus reducing the amount of metalrequired in the hinge box.

While 'I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it iscapable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the constructionand arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

A hinge and counterbalance for body and lid members, comprising incombination, a hinge strap connected to the lid member; a hinge boxmounted on the body member; means pivotally connecting said hinge strapto the hinge box between opposite walls thereof to permit swinging saidlid between open and closed positions; a toggle linkage including firstand second links and pivot means connecting the links; means pivotallyconnecting said first link to said hinge strap between said oppositewalls at a point between the connection of the hinge strap to the lidmember and the means pivotally connecting said strap to the hinge box;means pivotally connecting said second link to said hinge box betweenthe walls thereof; a bracket mounted on said last-men tioned pivotalconnecting means outside a wall of said hinge box in fixed angularrelationship to said second 5 link for swinging movement thereof; aspring; and means connecting said spring to said bracket at a locationsuch that the force of the spring is efiective on the link at a pointspaced from the pivotal connections of the link to form a lever, theconstruction and arrangement being 10 such that the spring is loadedwhen the lid is closed and the moment arm of this lever increases as thelid is opened.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSRoethel June 1, 1943 Galla July 21, 1953 Squire Sept. 14, 1954 Thomas eta1 Mar. 8, 1955 Johnson et al. Sept. 4, 1956

